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“I’ll lower the two of you first. I think it’s about damn time we all had a period off the airship.” Harmony patted both their heads and then went about the business of tying a rope around Boy. She sat him on the port side edge and let him position himself before she began lowering him.
When Boy was on the ground and had untied the rope from around his waist, Harmony pulled it back up and did the same for Molly. The moment she was safely down, Harmony gathered the intake hoses and threw them overboard. Only then did she climb down the ladder to join them on the ground.
“It feels so good to be standing on something other than sand. I may never get all the gritty stuff washed off the deck. It’s also in my bedcovers and clothes.” She wiggled her toes in the long grass of the river bank and sighed. From overhead, they had sighted this river emptying into the ocean and had decided to follow it inland for several miles before landing.
“I’m going to take a bath and get this salt off me. The rain took care of some of it but there’s plenty left in places the rain couldn’t reach.” It was making her itch, and so, without preamble, Harmony pulled the shift over her head and ran toward the river where she jumped in. The water was chilly but refreshing. She washed and then floated on her back to relax her tired muscles, letting the sun and water work their magic on her before finally getting out and dressed again. Harmony then headed over to the airship and dragged the hoses to the river, to fill the water tanks. With the hoses in the water, she climbed back on board and turned on the pumps. Going into her cabin, she grabbed the bedcovers and dirty clothes, thinking now was as good a time as any to wash them. It was a bright and sunny day so everything should dry well before sundown.
Before heading out, Harmony also grabbed her boots and a change of clothes. She would be soaking wet by the time she had everything washed and hung around to dry. She was just about to leave the cabin when she thought to grab the comb her grandfather had given her grandmother. She would comb her air out and let it dry in the sun when all her other chores were finished.
Harmony hummed as she washed her clothes. Just being back on the mainland was enough to lighten her spirits. Boy and Molly were at this very moment beneath some shading trees, going through the maps stored with Boy’s other photos, doing their best to figure out where they were. She was certain that by nightfall those two would have their journey all mapped out for the return trip home.
When the clothes were washed and hanging from the branches of tree and bushes, Harmony went on board and turned off the pumps before going back to pull up the hoses. By the time they were rolled up and stored on Airus, Harmony was sweaty and dirty again, so she ran back to the river and once more cleaned off the dirt and grime.
As she did so, Harmony carefully planned what she would do next. When they had everything loaded and they were ready to settle in for the night, she was going to take Airus up just enough to stay anchored but high enough that no creatures could sneak aboard while no one was looking. When all of the chores had been done, she was going to sleep for twenty four hours straight. She hadn’t rested well since crashing on the island and needed a full day to recover. She would plan the trip back after that. There was no doubt now they could make it home in due time, so why not take a day off to celebrate not dying?
Harmony dove beneath the water one last time, to wet her hair so it would be easier to comb out the tangles. She was looking forward to spending the rest of the afternoon lying in the grass until her and everything else was dry. Once she resurfaced, she padded over to the riverbank and climbed out. An unexpected movement then caught her eye.
“What the hell?” She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Airus appeared to be taking off with no one onboard. Naked as the day she came into the world, Harmony ran toward her ascending airship, unable to get her mind around it taking off without her. Hadn’t she anchored it properly? There was no way Molly or Boy could have got back on board without her help so they couldn’t be at the helm. Where were they? She glanced over to where she’d last seen them and realized, like her, they were heading toward where Airus had once been anchored.
She yelled over to Boy, “Did you see anyone go aboard?”
“No! But then I wasn’t looking.”
The ladder was still down. Harmony ran as fast as she could and took a flying leap at it, but her fingertips only clawed at the lowest metal rung before slipping off. She scraped down the side of the airship as the ladder rose beyond her reach.
“Damn it to hell!” Harmony looked up just in time to see a stranger peer over the edge and wave. She shook her fist at the man, but was too shocked to do anything but sputter a couple of incoherent words.
Harmony could only watch in dismay as the keel of her airship skimmed the treetops. The man obviously didn’t know what he was doing. That gave Harmony a little hope. Maybe he would crash – not that she wanted Airus battered or broken, but if it got stuck in a tree then there was a chance she could get it back.
Boy and Molly joined Harmony and they too now watched Airus bounce from treetop to treetop. No one said what they were thinking.
It wasn’t until Airus became entangled in an enormous oak that Harmony let out a loud whoop. She took a moment to pat Boy’s head before taking off in a dead run toward her airship.
Fortunately, the tree had a couple of low, sturdy branches Harmony could reach. It had been years since she had climbed a tree, but there was no way she was going to lose her grandmother’s prized possession, the thing that was going to take her back to her family and Griffin. Besides, Airus was her own damned airship, not this scoundrel’s who thought he could take it from her.
As Harmony neared the top, she could hear loud mutterings. Every now and then a “damn and bugger” and “what the hell?” came out loud and clear. Whoever was onboard was obviously struggling to figure out how to operate it. Good. The more he cursed and fumed, the more time she had to climb aboard and get it back. Of course, she had no idea how she was going to overpower the thief. Damn. Her pistol was in her cabin. Maybe, just maybe she could get on board unnoticed and sneak in and get it.